I believe shame dies when stories are told in safe places.

When I shared my story to my church and Dad, I found myself freed from the bondage and repercussions of being sexually abused when I was 5 years old.

Today I choose to share my story with you. My hope is that it will help many others to experience the freedom and love as I did.

I believe every story counts. It counts to know that you are not alone.

If you are a victim of sexual abuse. If you are wounded and silenced, one of the best things you can do for yourself is to share your story with someone you trust and let them journey with you.

Shame has no place in our purpose, plan and destiny. Be unashamed to speak.

Pastor Ian

The post Come Out. Come Home. first appeared on 3:16 Church.

In school, there were 250 of us from 30 nations serving, worshiping and seeking the Lord. We had the privilege to hear from amazing speakers including the founders and missionaries from other nations. Besides soaking and listening to the miraculous stories, we too had a chance to minister. We went to at least 10 different villages to preach the Gospel and heal the sick. We witnessed instant healing before our eyes – blind eyes seeing; backaches and headaches healed; even a growth of a leg that was 2 inches shorter than the other. The Lord also used my sister in Singapore to help set a woman free from spiritual attacks and nightmares. I remember meeting a lady who had been experiencing chest pains, and after praying for her she was healed and she danced and praise God for the first time.

I was blessed to be able to bless the people and and see how God moves through His people. Currently, I am waiting on the next step/direction. Instead of just bumming around, I am taking bible courses, working part-time and praying for the sick. I have been joining a group of brothers and sisters in Christ to reach out and pray for the sick. I believe that in this season God has called me to prepare, to wait and continue to exercise the gift while waiting. Missions is not just limited to overseas but includes local ministry too. I get to pray for the sick and release words of knowledge to bless and encourage the people I meet. For those who have a desire to serve in missions but are wary of the financial and cultural differences, you can start from where you are now. We live in a strategically-placed country where we have access to many nations!

You are free to join me or you can join our outreach efforts in the Church’s Sports Ministry or other missions organisations.

Alisa

The post Alisa’s Mission Story first appeared on 3:16 Church.

In 2015, I came to 3:16 Church with the intention of helping to fill the gap, as a Cajonero in the Praise Band. Though I hadn’t expressed my commitment to stay with the church, everyone made me feel like I was already part of the family. There was an atmosphere of authenticity which drew me in, and I found myself looking forward to Sunday services with them.

It has only been less than 2 years, but I have grown to become who God has uniquely purposed me to be. I have a people who journey with me through various seasons in life. More importantly, its culture of vulnerability allowed me to be fully known and accepted for who I really am. I have a voice, and I am heard.

And this is how I know what God’s family feels like.

Eunice Foo

The post What God’s Family Feels Like: Eunice first appeared on 3:16 Church.

We would like to believe that it’s the desire and hope of every Christian parent to know their child is secure in their relationship with Jesus. We are blessed by our kids’ teachable spirit, their sensitivity to His conviction of their need for Him and the tots and kids ministry in church.

Both Sozo and Hannah made their 1st profession of faith when they were just 4-years-old. We thank God for the many instances where we could affirm their respective decisions.

Kudos to Jess, my better half who is always pointing our kids and myself to Christ.

Special mention to all the faithful labourers, who serve the tots and kids every Sunday, week in and out. Thank you for directing and moulding our kids impressionable hearts to Christ our Risen Saviour!

The love and family spirit we have in 3:16 church is what God’s family feels like.

Malcolm & Jessie Tan

The post We Have Decided: Sozo & Hannah first appeared on 3:16 Church.

Wesley, our 9-year-old son, absolutely loves Lego. Given a chance, he would eat, sleep, play with Lego 24/7. You could say he is obsessed with it. So, it was no surprise that God used Lego to teach Wesley about letting go.

The topic of baptism came up when we heard Pastor Ian mention it in church. David and I knew it was time to ask Wesley about baptism.

We’ve always known that Wesley had asked Jesus into his heart when he was younger – we prayed with him several times to confirm it. He often has questions about God:

“If Jesus loves me, how come I can’t see Him and touch Him?”
“If Jesus is in heaven, how can He live in my heart too?”

He also has a heart of empathy:

“Grandma, are you okay? I’ll pray for you to get better soon.”

But when we approached Wesley for baptism, his fears kicked in:

“I’m afraid…”
“Will I drown?” [says the boy who can swim full laps in the pool]

We assured him that baptism was just a public declaration of his faith; a testimony of his belief in Jesus Christ and His resurrection. Our old self dies with Him and our new self rises with Him!

The day came.

Everything was beautifully prepared – the baptismal pool, the cool, balmy air, the row of flower bouquets, the musicians. Wesley’s Ye Ye and Nai Nai and the supportive 3:16 family eagerly looked on.

Then, stage fright. He shied away from his prepared speech. He just uttered these 2 words – “Obey Jesus”.

The fears melted away once he hit the water.

A picture of him emerging together with the roars from the crowd says it all.

This is what God’s family feels like.

Something changed in him that night while playing Lego. His beautiful Lego structure was accidentally destroyed by a toy. Devastation and despair overtook him and he was inconsolable:

“It’s the worst day of my life!”
“Don’t touch it! You don’t understand Lego!!!”
“I don’t want to talk about it!”

We took the chance to work through Wesley’s emotions with him – he had to let go of self-pity, despair and anger at everything and everyone.

“Not everything is destroyed, Wesley,” I assured him. “I’m sorry I let the toy drop. I didn’t fix it properly. It’s mommy’s fault. I’ll help you rebuild the Lego, okay?”

In between sobs and tears, he cried out, “It’s not your fault, mommy. It’s mine. I’m sorry I was angry at you…

I sacrifice myself for you. Uncle ZY taught me this in church. Where is he? Sacrifice is when you take someone’s punishment so that they won’t be punished, just like what Jesus did.”

He kissed me on the shoulder and the crying stopped. Big smiles came back on while we spent the rest of the night recreating the Lego structure, piece by piece.

With Christ in the center, LEt’s GO!

David and Adeline Ong, parents of Wesley Ong

The post I Have Decided: Wesley first appeared on 3:16 Church.

I want to say a big thank you to every cast and backstage crew member involved in the Broken production who has worked so hard in the past two months to present to us a message so powerful and stirring through drama and dance. Thank God for each of your labour of love behind the scenes and the unquantifiable amount of effort you’ve put in so that many of us can discover hope and healing for the brokenness in our own families and our friendships. Thank you for building the church today with your talents and passions, with your energies and your focus. This church is truly not built on just the gifts of a few but the sacrifices of many!

I also want to express thanks to the many who came alongside to serve as ushers, the audio-visual crew, the Praise Band, Team PICS, the video production team, the lay ministers and also the service team who coordinated the entire program and prepared the venue for us. Special thanks also to those who managed the ticketing booth and the merchandise sales. There is also the group of kids volunteers who helped organised the Dino Party program on both days of the production and served the kids in love so well that deserves much thanks and appreciation.

Also, let me honour and appreciate all the friends and family members and everyone in the audience for taking time to come down to support this production. Thank you for the love shown to the production cast and crew by your applause and gracious words of commendation. May the message of hope and reconciliation continue to speak to your hearts and let your individual stories become as how the drama unfolded – a glorious happy ending.

Most importantly, I want to thank our Daddy God for giving His heart for families to us and turning dreams into realities. Thank You Jesus for being the first to sacrifice in such radical love so we would know what God’s family feels like and do likewise. Thank You Holy Spirit for without His working together with us, every labour would have been in vain.

Credit Roll

Producer & Director: Liang Shinan; Playwrights: Liang Shinan & Angela Chew
Choreographer & Make-up Artist: Bianca Tham; Stage Manager: Angela Chew

Casts: Kathleen Ang, Darrell Tan, Lydia Lim, Roslina Chua, Mandy Lai, Mavis Huang, Joseph Heng & Heather Lim

Voiceover Casts: Dawn Teo & Bianca Tham

Stage Crew Supervisors: Joseph Heng & Ivan Tan
Stage Crews: Cheryl Tan, Leonard Tang, Chong Wei Jian & John Pang

Audio-Engineer & Music Supervisor: Eunice Foo
Lighting Designer & Supervisor: Shaun Beins; Lighting Technician: Jerome Tio

Publicity Manager, Visual Art Director & Director of Photography: Mavis Huang
Still Photographers: R.Y & Tay Yi En
Trailer Editors & Graphic Designers: Mavis Huang & R.Y

Production Administrative Assistant: Mandy Lai

Praise Band: Eishen Serra-Lee, Stephanie Yow, Francis Lee, Marc Wan & Pastor Joel Peh

Venue Coordinators: Amy Foo & J.Q

Front of House: Tan Chuan Ho, Joyce Tan, Tabitha Tan, Catherine Wong, Isabel Beins, Ng Xiuzhen, Sundy Wiliam Yaputra, Iris Ee, Doris Khoo, David Khoo, Toh Ser Nguang, Catherine Sew, Jennifer Lim, David Ong, Adeline Ong & Annie Teng

Children Care Givers:: Jessie Tan, Oktaviani Sia, Isabel Beins, Debbie Yow, Adeline Ong, David Ong, Tan Chuan Hoh, Lily-Mae, Amanda Lee, Jenny, Jan Ng, Mitchie, Malcolm Tan & Linda Wong

Lay Ministers: Alisa Choor, Dawn Teo & Teresa Soon

Media Coverage Supervisor: R.Y
Still Photographers: R.Y, Austen Chua, Harry Derkenne & Tay Yi En
Videographers: Gabrielle Soon, Harry Derkenne & R.Y

And others who have made sacrifices in secret and loved in ways that went unnoticed!

On behalf of 3:16 Pastoral Team,
Joel Peh
3:16 Church Youth Pastor

The post BROKEN: Thank You first appeared on 3:16 Church.

“The place that I went to hide in was pornography”, I shared with my youths one Saturday evening, while they were gathered in my living room. We were having a life group session titled, “Where’s your hiding place?”

We wrestled with such questions: Where do we hide when we are in pain? Do we know where to turn to for comfort and safety?

Then God reminded me that evening – He is my hiding place.

In December last year, I brought to light my “dark” secret in front of a camera, as part of a 3:16 video series on people who experienced God’s redemptive power in their struggles. Pastor Norman had preached a related powerful Christmas message on how our scandal needn’t be our story, because we have a God who redeems. I had volunteered my struggle with pornography (while serving as a Church pastor) as one of the examples of “scandals” which God can redeem.

Mixed feelings of disappointment and relief arose when my “scandal” wasn’t eventually chosen to be aired that Christmas service. Disappointed, as part of me eagerly yearned to see how God would use my story to impact the world through its release, yet relieved, because I didn’t have to confront my fears of how things would actually turn out.

But I know my God.

He always has a perfect timing and plan in mind. Recently, Pastor Ian used my video in his sermon on the topic of sex.

When I agreed to letting my video be used, I cannot say that I wasn’t afraid at all of the way people might look at me after they knew of my dark secret, but I found myself more concerned that the enemy would continue to have his way with my purity and others’.

Let me be honest: between the filming of the video interview and its actual release, I did fall back into pornography a few times. I’m thankful that I managed to confess to someone each time and receive needed prayer, yet I was angry at how I could still lose the same battle.

I found out later that God was waiting to speak life into cracks deep within my soul.

The Holy Spirit gently brought me into a place of repentance and breakthrough with Him during the first week of the 21-day Church-wide fast this February.

“You’ve had bad memories of beauty”, I felt the Holy Spirit whisper.

God spoke to me about how I am created to be a beholder and protector of a woman’s beauty, as a man. Yet every time I was hurt by a lady and felt less than a man, I valued what I was meant to protect less. I began to view beauty not as something to behold and cherish, but as something to fix and control.

Pornography’s secret appeal was a sense of control over beauty. Viewing pornography was my act of rebellion against the beauty I was made to cherish and protect. Instead of becoming a loving guardian of beauty, I turned into an abuser of beauty. I witnessed how a love of beauty, when distorted, can become a lust for beauty.

I felt a significant breakthrough and victory over my sexual sins, when I allowed the Holy Spirit to go through a list of past failed relationships in my memory. I submitted to Him every pain-related encounter that I had with the opposite sex, be it virtual or real-life, from those that were physical and sexual, to those that were emotional and verbal. Allowing myself to acknowledge every sense of rejection and hurt experienced with women in my life, I asked the Holy Spirit to heal and restore every broken piece.

I believe that God’s timing – divinely coinciding my video’s release and the Church-wide fast – was an invitation to journey into deeper healing and restoration of my identity in Him. It meant a lot as the video sealed what God had spoken to me this season with regards to my identity in Him. It is my heartfelt prayer to see God use my testimony to bring people into a vulnerable space, where they can meet the God who heals brokenness and binds up the broken-hearted.

For a lot of us, man or woman, we struggle with sexual brokenness. A distorted view of beauty has often caused purity to become like a city without walls, susceptible to invasion of an originally sacred space. To see healing and restoration in a world that is sexually broken, we need the Holy Spirit to reveal and illuminate to us the true worth of beauty.

It’s time for us to rebuild walls, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, and make God our constant hiding place. I promise that the Creator of beauty will heal unpleasant memories and show us who we really are in Him.

Pastor Joel Peh

The post Memories Of Beauty first appeared on 3:16 Church.

In the evening his disciples went down to the sea, got in the boat, and headed back across the water to Capernaum. It had grown quite dark and Jesus had not yet returned. A huge wind blew up, churning the sea. They were maybe three or four miles out when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, quite near the boat. They were scared senseless, but he reassured them, “It’s me. It’s all right. Don’t be afraid.” So they took him on board. In no time they reached land—the exact spot they were headed to. – John 6:16-21

The disciples could not recognise Jesus!

Recognise Your Miracle Today!

Many times, God has already answered our prayers and we could not recognised it. Missing our miracles is like watching life through a black and white television. We lose the ability to see the colours of God and live life to the fullest.

“They couldn’t see water that was right in front of them,” – Abel Cruz

The story of Abel Cruz is the story how one man recognised the answer the God has already given and made a big difference in a community in the far-flung areas of Lima, Peru.

Everyday, 768 million people do not have safe water to drink and 1,400 children below the age of five die of water-based diseases. Helping to alleviate the situation, Abel Cruz decided to install the fog catchers after years of living without running water and waiting for the water grid from the city to be set up in their area. This initiative enabled the poverty-stricken locals to have access to clean water!

Stealing A Bit Of The Sky

Teresa, a local resident, says that the innovation is like “stealing a bit of the sky.”

The disciples of Jesus could not recognise Jesus walking on water towards them. The Answer has arrived and yet they got afraid. Don’t miss the love of the Father walking towards you!

Could you recognise one miracle that God has answered in regard to your predicament?

Will you be an answer to someone around you today?

Hear the voice of the Holy Spirit,

“It’s me. It’s all right. Don’t be afraid.”

Pastor Ian Toh
Lead Pastor, 3:16 Church

The post Recognise Your Miracle Today! first appeared on 3:16 Church.

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. – John 5:19-20

Watching Your Heavenly Father Work

“It’s Jo Jo! I want to see Jo Jo!”

Isaias, my youngest son and I love to log on to the RingsTV app to watch Jo-Rei-Mi. Jo-Rei-Mi is a live program hosted by Rei Or Ray and Mimi Lucinda giving viewers a real-time and real life insight into their family. With so much fake news, fake food, fake goods around, it is absolutely refreshing and inspiring to watch a real life account of a loving family.

The program is done ‘live’ with no rehearsals and you will be able to see how the family relate to one another. It is totally fascinating! Plus – Rei and Mimi are my cousins and I know that what we see is truly real!

With so much fake news, fake food, fake goods around, it is absolutely refreshing and inspiring to watch real life account of a loving family.

It is great to see Josiah watching his parents and following them in all the family activities. I see the reality of John 5:19-20 in the family setting through this family. It was like Rei is watching the Heavenly Father and doing what the Heavenly Father is doing for his family.

What is the Father doing in and for our families?

What is the Father doing in His family, the church?

Hear the voice of the Holy Spirit,

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

Pastor Ian Toh
Lead Pastor, 3:16 Church

The post Watching Your Heavenly Father Work first appeared on 3:16 Church.

2016 was a year where the praise and worship culture took a dramatic shift. I will never forget the one Sunday where God simply unlocked the worship culture at 3:16 Kids, it was a Sunday where the kids were totally engaged in the worship experience; they were jumping around, hands raised, eyes closed, kneeling and praying on the floor… It was awesome. It was a great victory for the ministry after taking the kids firstly through sing-along video worship with dance moves, then the big decision to worship together with the main congregation and finally a Bible Teaching Series on “Worship”… I believe all this laid the good soil for our worship tree to bear fruit.

2016 was also a year where we began to see the kids take on more spiritual ownership. It was a year where we actively encouraged the kids to embrace their spiritual gifts and exercise them. In line with 3:16 Church’s Year of Kingly Influence, we saw the kids pray and prophesy more over each other, sharing their dreams and visions and they interpreting it for each other. I recall one Sunday where I could sense that the Kids Teachers weren’t spiritually aligned with God and hence not ready to serve the kids, so I called the kids to form a circle around us and asked the kids to lay hands on all the teachers and pray over us. Sure enough, the spiritual atmosphere changed after that. What a wonderful picture, that it was no more a norm for teachers to pray for kids, but for kids to pray over their teachers.

In the second half of the year, we also taught and trained the kids how to share the gospel using a simple colour method, and we witnessed kids using this method to share the gospel with other kids… Amazing!

There were many other highlights but I will share just two more that were big victories regarding one of our core values. At 3:16 Kids we firmly believe in the importance of family in shepherding kids. We believe that parents are the first and most important shepherds in a child’s life. Two events encapsulated this perfectly. Last year we saw five of our kids being baptised. At our baptisms, we had the parents baptising their own children. This was to recognise the role the parents had played in bringing their children to Christ: What a wonderful joy and privilege for any parent to have!

The second event was when we had our 2015 Christmas outreach at Paya Lebar Square. We had several families going around, blessing strangers and giving out Church invites and Christmas cards to strangers. As a ministry leader, I was so happy to see the parents setting such good examples for our kids to follow, and the kids must have been so proud of their mummies and daddies, it was extremely encouraging and a wonderful memory.

One of the main challenges we faced in 2016 was manpower. I am so thankful for the faithful 3:16 Kid Volunteers like Lydia, Heather, Daniel and Malcolm who served continuously throughout the year, but many times we didn’t not have enough volunteers to rotate inside a month, resulting in Meishan and myself having to serve most of the time.

One of the personal challenges I had was how to build a team around me for the ministry. It was only after our Strengths Finder course that the tide started to change. The Church leadership sent Dawn Teo, a dear sister whose Strengths and Personality are very different from my own, to “coach” me on how better to lead the ministry. Despite our differences, we actually seemed to complement each other pretty well. The Lord also moved in another sister’s heart during the Strengths Finder course, Jan Ng, a gifted teacher, to come alongside me and join the ministry. Towards the end of the year, Jessie, another sister whose “Includer” strength (one that I lack) really helped bring in more labourers for our ministry. So as you can see, Strengths Finder was a key milestone in helping the ministry, not just in it’s timing but in application.

I really thank God for my wife, Meishan who has been a constant support and a willing listener to any problems I had. With her support and encouragement, I was able to press on. I remember a counsel she gave me late one sleepless night, a word she spoke over me unlocked and exposed a lie that had a big stronghold in my heart… It was a very important personal breakthrough. Of course my personal thanksgiving wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the best gift God gave me last year, Faith, our daughter. The personal joy and happiness of being a father is a completely new one. Thank you Jesus for such a beautiful and cute baby girl.

Lu Zhenyuan

The post 2016 Year In Review: 3:16 KIDS first appeared on 3:16 Church.